


Love Bug

by shirewalker



Category: The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Post-Canon, Sick Fic, alina fainted, alina finds out she enjoys feeling nikolai up, but denying it also xD, nikolai's self-control can't last much longer when that happens, of sorts, straight into his arms, zoya has just a minor moment but yeah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 20:08:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13818522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shirewalker/pseuds/shirewalker
Summary: Alina's sick and her faithful nurse happens to be the King of Ravka.Perhaps spending so much time on his bed wasn't a good idea, as Alina begins to realise... some things.





	Love Bug

_Now I'm speechless_   
_Over the edge, I'm just breathless_   
_I never thought that I'd catch this love bug again_   
_Hopeless, head over heels in the moment_   
_I never thought that I'd get hit by this love bug again_

 

 

 

 

 

It was a lovely party. She was sure it was. Still, she couldn’t really register most of what was happening around her. All afternoon she’d felt lightheaded and awfully thirsty, her head pounding and heavier than usual. But Alina paid no attention to it all, busy as she was with helping her friends with final arrangements for the party. She was probably too stressed with it all.

It was the anniversary of the end of Ravka’s civil war and everyone was invited to join the party at the palace, or to host their own throughout the country. Alina had been invited to the palace of course. Mal hadn’t been excited about it, so much he wound up threatening to leave her if she went. Even now, weeks after the argument, after that invitation had arrived in an expensive envelope, Alina couldn’t quite understand how it all went from a simple “I don’t feel like it” to him walking out the door.

“Alina?” Zoya called, her icy blue eyes a little concerned.

She blinked and looked at her friend, “Yes?”

“You look a little pale, are you all right?” She grabbed a champagne flute from a passing waiter and offered her another. Alina declined the offer. “Is it… _him_?” Zoya’s voice gained an edge and Alina remembered how angry her friends had been when told about the argument. Certain threats to his “manhood” had been voiced several times.

She shook her head, “No, I’m just… I think dinner wasn’t so nice for my stomach…” She reached back and leaned against a table. Her legs were a little weak, near-boneless.

Zoya watched her for a moment, “If you’re not feeling well, go to bed. You’re not obligated to stay here all night.”

Alina shook her head again, “No, I’m fine. Just not in condition to dance.” She laughed, or tried to, based on the strange and miserable sounds that left her throat and the doubtful look Zoya threw her. “Really, I’m fine Zoya. Go dance and have fun, I’ll just stay here.”

Her friend lingered for a moment, still not believing Alina’s words, until a young duchess came along and invited her for a dance. She smiled, “Fine, I’ll go. But please, sit down.” She said, her tone stern and serious, before leaving to dance.

The party carried on while Alina’s balance seemed to want to take a holiday. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since Zoya left, but she was sure time was moving in a very, very strange way. Fast, then slow, then normal, then frozen, then fast again. Slow. Fast. Stop. Normal. Fast. Slow? Blinking away her dizziness, Alina reached for a glass of water. Well, she tried. For the glass seemed to wobble away from her reach just as her hand was grazing it and then… Darkness.

 

* * *

 

Strange, the floor was soft and warm. And so comfortable…

“Please, let us through, please!” A voice called from above, a familiar one, yet Alina couldn’t quite reach for who it belonged to. The knowledge seemed to hover just out of reach, just… She was just so dizzy… and tired. So, so tired… Sleep seemed a sweeter goal than recognizing whoever was holding her. Worried voices flickered in and out of her mind, voices she didn’t recognize, voices she knew very well, voices and voices and more voices. Yet the only one that her mind seemed to anchor on, to hold on to as tight as it could, was the closest one, the one that seemed desperate to take her away from all the other voices. “Just hang on, Alina. We’ll be out of here in no time.” Too Clever Fox! A drunken smile flickered on her lips. The voice huffed, “Please, let us through. No, I can take her. Please, enjoy the rest of the party. Tamar!” Whatever happened after that name was a mystery to Alina, as she finally succumbed to her dizziness and darkness took her under once more.

 

* * *

 

She was falling! She was falling! She was—!

“Hey, hey! Calm down, you’re fine. I’m here… Shh…” that voice again… Something warm and damp was placed on her forehead and she felt a little better right away, “There…”

“Nikolai…!” She gasped, finally realising who had caught her mid-fall and carried her away from the party. Her throat hurt with the effort just as a splintering pain threatened to crack her head in two. A pained groan left her throat and she tried to breathe as little as possible, a hand trying to keep her head from actually opening up.

Nikolai caught her other hand and spoke in a soothing voice, “Yes, it’s me. Stay down, Alina. Here, have some water.” He brought a glass to her lips and she clumsily drank a bit, her parched lips and dried throat thankful for the water. She tried to drink it all but before she could take another long gulp, the glass was gone, “No, too much in one go won’t do you any good.”

“What happened…?” She croaked, her hand still on Nikolai’s. There was something… Something important to notice, but she couldn’t, not really…

A smirk grew on his lips, an insufferable and troublesome smirk and Alina faintly regretted her question. Faintly, because she felt too in and out of touch with reality. One moment she really regretted it, the next… She wasn’t sure. Nikolai heaved a dramatic sigh and leaned in, “You fainted. Straight into my arms…” He sighed again and Alina swore he was deliberately taking his sweet time with this, “You know,” He caressed her hand and she was certain of it, “If you wanted my attention, you didn’t have to go to such extremes, sunshine.”

Her glare was enough to cut the world in half, yet Nikolai’s smirk didn’t waver. If anything, it bloomed.

“If I wasn’t so sick, I’d kick you.” It was more of a pitiful grumble than an actual threat, but it didn’t matter, not really. Because Nikolai would just keep on smirking. No matter her condition or tone of voice.

“You know it would only make me like you more, Alina.” She almost asked whatever he meant with that, but in that moment a knock interrupted her words. Nikolai got up, “Ah, that should be Tamar with your chicken soup.”

She sank deeper in the plush pillows and moaned, “I don’t want to eat anything…”

“But you have to.” A blink and next thing she knew Nikolai was by her side once more, and with food in his hands. “Open wide.”

Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion, had she drifted off in the moments it took for Tamar to get in and out the room? And where was she…? These pillows were too plush to be hers and the bed was too perfect as well. Not to mention the sheets. There was a faint scent of… Her heart stuttered. “Nikolai…?”

“Yes, sunshine?” He poked her mouth with the spoon, chicken soup sloshing about.

She refused to take it, “Where are we?”

Nikolai poked her mouth again, “Come now, Alina. Eat it.” Begrudgingly she took the spoon and swallowed down the chicken soup. Her stomach sighed with relief. “In my room.”

She blinked. His room?

“What?”

“My room, Alina. Come on, another one. You need to eat something before the fever takes you out again. I can see your eyes staying closed more often than open.” Was he actually scolding her for not being able to stay awake?

“Why are we in your room?”

“Yours was too far away and I knew the fastest route here anyway.” He poked her mouth yet again and this time Alina didn’t even hesitate. She was hungry and dizzy and so tired; the food was more than welcome. It was practically a gift. Even if she was being spoon-fed.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Was it her or were the lights dimming?

Nikolai’s smile gained an unreadable edge and he put away the food, “Rest, Alina.” And just on cue, darkness came for her again.

 

* * *

 

Nikolai’s bed was certainly much better than hers. Even if she did have a good bed here in Os Alta, his was… Well, a king’s bed. It was fluffy and warm, so soft to the touch she was certain one could easily sleep naked without a care – the thought faintly bringing forth a shameful vision of Nikolai sleeping in the nude, which she promptly shut away before having any ideas – and they smelled wonderfully. So wonderfully! Sea breeze, freshly cut wood, a faint cinnamon touch… Alina snuggled up against her pillow and something warm fell over her shoulders. What a nice pillow… So warm, so soft. So strangely… alive?

Not really wanting to, Alina pried her eyes open and saw through the cracks that her lovely pillow… wasn’t a pillow at all. From her low spot, she saw Nikolai next to her, reclined on his bed and with an open book in his hand. The other hand, she realised it now, was over her shoulders, together with its assorted arm, keeping her close.

Oh no.

She was snuggling with Nikolai.

“Good morning, sunshine.” He said to her even though Alina had just fled from under his arm. The king put away his book, amused with her fast movements, and turned to her, “Had a good sleep?”

His smile was honestly dazzling. Alina didn’t know what to do with that or with the way her heart seemed to skip a beat every two seconds. Scratch that, two beats. Her eyes fell on his tousled hair and she knew that little red thing was dying for her to feel those locks running through her fingers. She licked her lips and looked around, looking for a distraction, “Why… Why are you there?” Stupid, stupid question.

“This is my bed, Alina. And it’s big enough for the two of us and we still have enough space to never touch each other.” He paused. Then, when she kept looking at him with pure panic, he added, “Yes, you did snuggle up to me earlier in the night. Don’t worry, I’m so healthy doctors wonder if I’m real.”

“I’m not… I wasn’t… That’s not…”

His smirk grew mischievous, “Oh, well. Nothing happened on that area either, if that’s what you’re wondering. Even if you did try to kiss me once or twice.”

“WHAT?” Her eyes surely were out of their sockets by now.

Nikolai burst into laughter, the sound so much like that of a carefree child’s. For a long moment she stared at him as he laughed, wondering if regicide was too much for revenge. Then, the laughter subsided and he reached in to close her mouth it the tip of his finger, “I was kidding, Alina. You didn’t attempt anything, much to my eternal grief.”

She sat there, confused over everything that was happening. Dying to say anything, she burst out, “How long was I sick?” Well, this was far better than inquiring why the king was resting on his own bed.

He rubbed his chin and the movement was enough to have her stomach flipping over and over again. What was this man doing to her and why wasn’t she complaining as much as she used to? “I’d say a couple of days. You slept throughout most of it and the doctor helped with your fever too.”

“What about the party?”

“No one really missed us. They were overly worried about me carrying you, but other than that. I’m told it continued until the late hours in the morning.”

“Oh. Then I… I should go to my room.”

He shook his head and pulled her back to the pillows, “You won’t do such thing. The doctor said you were to rest for a little longer.” He said, busy fluffing her pillows.

Alina’s gaze fell on his arm, its short sleeve revealing tanned skin and hard muscle. She sucked in a breath, trying to steady her heart and the way her hands ached to feel him. All of him, every inch. Saints…! Alina closed her eyes, trying to bury these thoughts in the darker parts of her heart. Why was she having these thoughts and why couldn’t she stop? The harder she tried to ignore them, the more her brain lingered, the more ideas and scenarios her heart played through. The more she wanted to let herself go.

A moment passed in silence. Nikolai had stopped his fluffing, but he remained where he was, hovering there, arms braced around her.

And Alina couldn’t stop staring at him. Staring at his eyes. It’s not that she’d never them, but now… It was as though she was seeing those eyes for the first time. As the early sunlight streamed through the open windows, Nikolai seemed to glow and so did his eyes. The hazel was almost unreal. Rich honey, deep and clear, dripped over a deep emerald sea. She could drown in those eyes. She _would gladly_ drown in those eyes. The sunlight seemed to love the green particularly, making it look almost like real crushed emeralds. Saints help her. And it wasn’t just the eyes. He seemed to… glow. His skin had a healthy glow, a little tanned from his adventures outside, his cheeks rosy with a soft blush. His hair… Pure gold threads. Soft and lush and thick, she wondered what it would be like to pass her fingers through them and her heart skipped a very long beat.

Saints help her poor little heart. Nikolai was beautiful. So beautiful it just couldn’t be possible.

He parted his lips and took a raspy breath, “There… Better?” His voice was thick and Alina wondered if he too was taken aback from their current position.

“Uh huh…” She uttered, completely lost for words. And then… Then… She found them.

And it was all because she was sick, of course, or else Alina would have eaten her tongue before she’d uttered those three little words, “You’re so beautiful…”

A roguish grin graced his lips and a tiny dimple shined under the morning light. “I knew you’d come to your senses one day, sunshine.” Alina couldn’t even roll her eyes at him, lost as she was with the sight of that rare dimple. With the sight of _him_.

“You’re so full of yourself.” She managed to say.

“It's called confidence, you should try it some time. It might suit you.” He was so smug, Alina once more thought about violent acts.

And this time, she rolled her eyes. Hard. “I have confidence, you idiot.”

“Oh, I know. I remember clearly the way you turned me down so many times.” He poked her nose.

She batted the hand away, “Two times.”

“Actually, I believe I asked three times.”

Her cheeks heated up as she remembered that last time, so carefully tucked away in her heart she almost forgotten it was an actual proposal. So raw… So… honest. But so different from the other two proposals that had been so obvious and so straight to the point. “…Right.” She mumbled, forcing her gaze away from his. How different had her life been had her answer been yes? It wasn’t a question that she was consciously aware of, but somehow it had always been there, in the corner of her mind, every time Nikolai visited her, every time she took that emerald out of its hiding place and gazed at it.

A finger on her chin and she was facing the king again, “What’s on your mind?” He whispered, the words soft, intimate. A secret shared in the space between them.

“I was really rude, wasn’t I?”

He smiled, “You were honest, painfully so, but honest. Not rude. Although I don’t remember you actually saying no that time. You simply… kept on listing all the reasons why the court wouldn’t like you.”

She rolled her eyes, “Pretty sure I did say no.”

He hummed in disagreement, “My bruised heart clearly remembers that day. A refusal wasn’t really said, not even in veiled terms.” He tucked away a lock of her hair, “But you obviously weren’t ready for us, so I… I let you go.”

“Why?” She breathed, feeling as though speaking any louder than a breath would ruin this moment between them. And she didn’t want to ruin it.

There it was again, that unreadable edge to his smile, that secret he seemed so intent on keeping from her, “Because of how badly I wanted you to stay.”

Alina felt as though the bed had been pulled from under her, those words hanging between them, waiting to be caught by her and tucked away in that secret room she had saved just for Nikolai. She opened her mouth, still unsure of what to reply, when a sneeze forced its way out of her. Nikolai blinked at the sudden outburst as Alina tried her best not to sneeze straight into his face. His arm, though, hadn’t been so lucky. She watched miserably the way his skin shinned brighter exactly where her sneeze had it, “I’m so sorry…” She wailed and buried her face in her pillow, or rather, tried to. This was so embarrassing… So, so embarrassing. There he was, pouring his heart out and she had to sneeze…

A chuckle brought her eyes back to him, “It’s all right, Alina. I shouldn’t have stayed on the line of fire.”

“I ruined the moment…” She mumbled, feeling her cheeks blush bright.

“Oh? Were we having a moment?”

“You know we were, don’t play dumb, it doesn’t suit you.”

“Hum, you’re right. It really doesn’t suit me, you look much more breathless when I play smart than when I play dumb.”

“You wish.” She hesitated then, unsure she should ask this or not. But then, “If you wanted me to stay so badly… Why didn’t you, huh, fight harder?” Her voice was just a raspy breath, her throat still hurt from her ordeal. Trying to distract herself, she let her fingers wander over his arm, feeling the way his scars began on his fingers and trailed further than she had ever noticed. Nikolai shuddered under her touch, the king clearly surprised with her touch. She was surprised too, this was no way to distract herself. Actually it was the opposite. It was just another way to sink in deeper in this moment, in him. “You’re not wearing your gloves…” She added as an afterthought.

“I guess I took them off and forgot…” He rasped, “Being around you has that effect on me, I suppose.” Alina’s hand wandered higher, her fingers feeling the way his muscles hardened under her touch, the way his skin erupted into goose bumps under her touch. Nikolai groaned, “Why didn’t I fight harder?” He shook his head and fought a groan, “We had just survived a war. You clearly wanted to recover at your own pace, in your own space. Not… to have yet another person vying for your attention.” He closed his eyes, clearly overcome with the way her hand still moved over his arm, “It was your decision, not mine. The only decent thing I could do was…” He groaned when her hand began traveling back down. She couldn’t stop touching him, not now that she’d started, “I had to let you go, Alina. As much as it pained me, I had to.” He dropped his head, “Saints… That’s… That’s too much, Alina. Please, sunshine.” He begged; for what, though?

She wanted to know, she needed to know. She felt as though her heart would stop working if she didn’t ask, “Please, what?”

“I still want to kiss you, every damned day I see you. Even more when I don’t. Please… Just once…” His voice broke and before she could think twice about it, Alina was pulling his lips down on hers, both hands holding his face closer, closer, closer.

It was as though her heart had been holding its breath for this moment, this touch, this kiss. It sighed with complete and utter bliss as her lips awkwardly tried to reassure Nikolai that yes, this was happening, yes she was kissing him and yes, she wanted him to kiss her back. It took him the space between a heartbeat and the next before Nikolai was kissing her back with all his might. The press of his lips, the glide of his tongue, the way he sighed into her as his hand slid behind her head and held her even closer. Oh, was this what she’d avoided back on the mountain? Was this what she could have tasted back at the lake?

A groan formed in the back of his throat and Nikolai climbed on top of her, his other hand tracing the side of her body, as he deepened the kiss. Alina leaned into him, a moan climbing up her throat and into his mouth, her heart beating so fast, so fast, so fast. She passed her fingers through his hair and a deep pleasure spread through her whole body, igniting every cell of hers, as she confirmed how wonderful it was to touch him like this. Nikolai left her lips and moved along her jaw and down her neck, planting feverish kisses all over her skin, drawing raspy gasps and moans out of her. Throat still hurt, body still exhausted from being so sick, Alina couldn’t help be awed at how well her body was handling all of this. Nikolai and his touch and his kiss and all of him. All of him. Saints…!

“Alina… Saints… Alina…” He breathed her name, his breath hot against her skin before he pressed kiss after kiss after kiss.

Alina felt so dizzy, so lightheaded, even more than when her fever had struck her down, so much more. This was unreal, a fever-induced dream. So delicious it was, so perfect, it couldn’t be real. But it was, it was.

And then, just when she was certain her heart would burst at the seams from all of this, from this kiss, from this moment, Nikolai broke the kiss. First into a thousand tiny and wonderful pecks and then nothing but a soft brush of his nose against hers, so soft and tender, before he dropped his head into the crook of her neck.

Alina breathed heavily, her eyes still closed, and wondered if the way her skin seemed to burn so hot was from the kiss or the remains of her sickness. Maybe a bit of both, considering the way she was so dizzy even without opening her eyes. But then again, she had a feeling that kiss would make her dizzy even on a healthy day. She would have to find that out when she wasn’t sick anymore.

Sick. Oh, no.

“We shouldn’t have kissed…” she croaked. Nikolai tensed and she quickly added, “I’m sick, Nikolai! Remember?”

He laughed, that sudden tension fading away as Alina noticed how the sound was more of a relieved sigh than an actual chuckle, “For a moment I thought you were already regretting the kiss.” Nikolai looked up and rose an eyebrow, “You’re not, are you? Regretting the kiss.”

She rolled her eyes and coughed a little, “Regretting the kiss while still very sick? Yes. The actual kiss?” She paused, watching the way Nikolai hanged on every word she said. _Nikolai_ , hanging on her every word, holding his breath. Now that was something she had never expected to see, something she had thought to see _maybe_ as one of his masks. And yet… His eyes were open, hiding nothing at all from her. Nothing at all. He was _nervous_. She licked her lips and smiled at the way his gaze flickered down for a moment. Then, decided she’d tortured him for too long already, “No. I don’t regret it, at all.”

He beamed at her, “You have no idea how wonderful it is to hear that, Alina.”

Another cough shook her and Alina moaned, “Ugh… I hate being sick…”

“Look at it from a positive angle, it provided us with some proper private times and a chance to finally give in to our deepest desires.” He said, getting up from the bed.

“Deepest desires… You really are…” She groaned, wondering where the hell he’d gone.

“Irresistible? Damnably handsome? Brilliant beyond words? So sexy your knees go weak?” He offered in a light tone, speaking from somewhere across the room. Alina heard the faint clinking of china.

She rolled her eyes, “Ha ha, we kissed once and your ego already outgrew the palace grounds.”

“It had already outgrown the day you reassured me I would be a good king, my sunshine.” He said, returning to her side with a steaming cup of tea. Its scent weaved its way through her blocked nose and in an instant she already felt a little better.

She sat up a little higher and accepted the tea, “I knew it.”

Nikolai sat next to her and opened his arm. Alina eyed the space she’d so fondly cuddled with in her sleep and quickly accepted the offer, heaving a happy sigh as he put his arm around her shoulders and tucked her closer. He pressed a kiss on the crown of her head, “I never thought I’d actually find myself in this position.” He wondered out loud. “Dreamed about it, but never thought it would actually happen.”

Alina drank some of her tea and relished in the way it eased the pain in her throat, “Likewise.” She said. Then froze and a fierce blush coloured her cheeks.

“Alina…”

“Yes?”

“Have you… thought about us, then?”

“Maybe…” She mumbled into her tea, wishing her stupid sick self had some sort of mouth filter.

Nikolai hummed, obviously delighted with this revelation, “Ah… So you did give use to that emerald of yours.” She could actually _hear_ his smirk.

“Shut up.”

“Will you stay?” He asked and Alina wondered if he was asking about more than her recovery.

Stay? _You could stay with me_. She remembered those words more often that she would ever admit. Sometimes, late at night, when Mal wasn’t home yet, Alina would dig out that ring and think about Nikolai’s request. About the way he’d said it, the way his voice had revealed more than he probably wanted, the way she had hesitated for just half a heartbeat. But she’d hesitated nevertheless, hadn’t she? And that hesitation had been enough to keep her up at night, to keep her from selling that ring, or even telling anyone she still had it. And that hesitation was exactly why she’d come to the anniversary instead of running after Mal, wasn’t it? In the end of it all, wasn’t it?

She looked up from beneath her lashes and found Nikolai watching her, a sea of emotions swirling deep in his eyes. It took her breath away, the weight of his gaze, the softness and tenderness, the way it wormed its way deep into her heart. Or maybe… It already had, she had just been blind to it. Her lips, cracked and the opposite of his perfect ones, curved up in a soft smile, “Yes, Nikolai.”

Relief, happiness, excitement, surprise. It all flashed through is eyes before Nikolai settled on something else, something Alina still wasn’t ready to name – this was all so new still –; he whispered, “Wonderful.” And kissed her again.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I thought "I already did a sick fic where nikolai's the sick one. I should do one where alina's the sick one!" and that's how we got here xD  
> also, I'm sick so I got plenty of raw material xD (no I didn't faint nor got a fever just the other stuff xD)
> 
> feedback/comments/fangirling is more than welcome!


End file.
